Ethelbert, 1st Christian King of Kent

Dan Graves, MSL

Church History Timeline

The fortunes of Christianity have waxed and waned in Britain. Early in
church history, so many Celts converted to Christ that the island could
be called a Christian country. One of its sons, Patrick, carried the
gospel to Ireland where Christianity also triumphed. However, the Celts
fell to an invasion by Angles, Saxons and Jutes in the fifth century.
The Anglo-Saxons were pagans, worshipping the Norse gods, whose pantheon
was headed by Odin.

Celtic Christians, hating the invaders who had robbed them of their
land, made little or no effort to convert them to Christ. In the sixth
century, Irish monks crossing from Ireland, began the conversion of
pagan England from the north. In the seventh century Augustine of
Canterbury brought the gospel to Kent, in the south.

Ethelbert ruled Kent then. He worshipped Odin, the god of his
fathers, but allowed his wife, Bertha, to practice Christianity. She was
the daughter of a Christianized French king. Perhaps her influence
explains why Ethelbert was gracious to Augustine when he came, declaring
that he brought news of an eternal kingdom.

According to the eighth-century Anglo-Saxon historian Bede, Ethelbert
agreed to meet Augustine and hear what he had to say. The meeting had to
be in the open, however. The king believed that Augustine's "magic"
could only work on him inside a building.

In spite of his precautions, Ethelbert was eventually converted with
thousands of his followers, although he did not compel any of them to
become Christians. The king built several church buildings and gave
Augustine the ground at Canterbury where the cathedral now stands. It
has always been the primary see of England.

Although Ethelbert's most important act was to accept the Christian
faith, he is notable for promulgating the first English code of law and
for bringing most of Anglo-Saxon England under his rather loose
authority.

On February 24, 616 the king died. Because that is the feast of St.
Matthias, Ethelbert is commemorated not on his death day, but on the following day, February 25.